Coronavirus: Covax vaccine shortfall puts pressure on rich nations to act

Name: WHO says no need for Covid-19 booster shots for now since vaccine supplies are low
Uploaded: 2021-09-08T18:36:51.000Z
Duration: 1 min 50 s
Description: WHO says no need for Covid-19 booster shots for now since vaccine supplies are low

Amid a 25 per cent cut to Covax’s supply forecast for the year, countries that already have enough doses are being urged to give up their place in the queue

WHO chief calls for halt on Covid-19 boosters for rest of the year

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A Kenyan medical worker gives a woman a dose of the Moderna vaccine in Nairobi on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Bloomberg

Published: 2:36am, 9 Sep 2021Updated: 9:52pm, 9 Sep 2021

A year ago, scores of countries committed to the Covax Facility, a programme set up to deliver Covid-19 vaccines equitably to every corner of the planet. Now the initiative is falling short of its goals.

Facing a 25 per cent cut to Covax’s supply forecast for the year, its partners are calling on countries that already have enough doses to give up their place in the queue. They also want vaccine makers to be more transparent about their supply arrangements to ensure developing countries are not being disadvantaged.

The organisations behind Covax, including the vaccine alliance Gavi, cite an array of challenges, including export bans and hurdles some companies have encountered in scaling up production. Covax expects to have access to about 1.4 billion doses by the end of the year, the groups said Wednesday. That is down from a June forecast for about 1.9 billion.

Although Covax backers said they expect the programme to speed up in the coming months, health advocates worry it will not be fast enough. About 10,000 Covid-19 deaths are occurring each day, Soumya Swaminathan, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist, said in a briefing with reporters.

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WHO says no need for Covid-19 booster shots for now since vaccine supplies are low

“A few months in the pandemic is a very long time,” Fatima Hassan, director of the Health Justice Initiative, a non-profit group in Cape Town, said by phone.